Take Me Away

Tomorrow I leave for tour. I did all my laundry and packed yesterday, and it was a lot harder than it sounds to pack for ten days of shows and driving and looking cool in videos and being comfortable in the car. I still have plenty to do, but at least that part is done.

I’m starting to get the itch to be in it; to have the prep behind us and the trip underway. Singing and playing with Brian and Bisi and the other local songwriters at each stop will be the most fun part of the trip. For sure, collaborating, singing harmony, putting together new mash-ups and arrangements is my favorite thing to do. I LOVE it.

But the other thing I am so looking forward to is meeting all the new friends and hearing their stories. This will no doubt become the content for the next album (though much of it is already written). I intend to be an absolute sponge the entire time. Soaking up new sights and sounds, insights, and stories. This process of taking things in and putting them back out, like breathing, gives me the feeling that I am doing what I was made to do. There are a few things in my life that when I do them, I am sure that I am supposed to do them. Sing, Write. Hold babies. Teach. Make friends. Dance. Plant flowers. Make things beautiful. I think I can do all these things, except maybe the planting flowers part, on our trip.

I want to tell you about the guys I’m going with: Bisi and Brian. I met Bisi two and a half years ago in Chicago at the opening night of a weekend blast. Always with a diverse group of people around him and a huge smile on his face, Bisi is the life of a very welcoming party. He’s dapper and sharp and witty, loves to build people up, and is the first to ask a wallflower to dance. He isn’t afraid of much. Can sleep through anything. Is up for anything. At his very essence, he is open and unafraid of the world and possibility. This is what can happen when you’re hanging out with him: That first night we met, I rode back to the hotel in a car with Zubs, an enormous and handsome spoken word poet/doctor, a Nigerian pop singer (that’s Bisi) an art teacher in dreadlocks, a dominatrix in barely anything, and a punk rock guitar player in hipster glasses from Wisconsin, Seth. We ended up mashing into the car and later mashing up a few of our sounds into a little music video in the lobby. Bisi played drums on the vinyl couch. The following day/night we added on to our entourage a couple of Canadians–Blair and Dale of The Dust Rhinos (they were here in October remember how fun? AND who are now my bestest friends), Sarah Vitort, who just stopped by for a visit/house concert last month as Fox and Bones, unbelievable classical guitar player who you have to check out, Nick Rose-Stamey, a passionate and hilarious songwriter named get this– Michael Danger Van Gorder of all things who just ran for office in Califormia, Stefan Forbus, an incredible flute player, and so many others. That was Studio 839. Soooo fun.

This year our weekend was just as fun and maybe more so because we had been friends for a whole year since the first one. We added more and called ourselves The Red Lobby: Blair, Bisi, plus Dale–who slept through most of it– a poet, Jon Hopkins, who stunned us all into silence with his beautiful command of words J. P. McDermott, graceful and easy, who can play anything and sing anything and make it seem easy. Dina Bach elegant and beautiful at the piano, Jayme Orr with her smile and gorgeous voice, and Jael, who sings and plays with delicacy, Constantine and Manny, driving the party. Nico singing to bring the security guard round, China and Seth, of Alright Alright charming us all with their folksy sound, and Kevin who rocks the guitar and sounds amazing. Tom, my very understanding neighbor who joined in, and the guy who could conduct the whole crowd with his big booming voice and command of the guitar, Brian Allison.

Brian just dove headfirst into being a full time musician this year. He quit his day job, works the circuit, and kills it. He loves his family. Thinks his wife is the prettiest thing ever made and writes songs for her. Misses his dad who taught him how to play guitar. And, he is releasing his EP on Tuesday on the night we open our tour at Uncommon Ground at Lakeview. He wears flannel shirts, will laugh at this description, and won’t mind driving most of the trip–I hope?

So, that’s us! And starting tomorrow, we will be posting live videos on our tour page and updating you on all manner of trivia about the tour and our adventures. We are selling tour shirts too! Designed and made right here in BloNo at Meltdown. Let me know if you want one!

The TAKE ME BACK tour starts in Chicago, then to Wixom, MI, then Pittsburgh, Lancaster, PA, Brooklyn (PLAYING WITH TRUMPET GRRRL OH MY GOD and yes I met her in Chicago too but she was not in THE RED LOBBY because she was on an all night ferry singing karaoke with a bunch of guys from a rock band that she met so she missed the whole thing) then Montgomeryville and Baltimore, Indy, Terre Haute and BloNo. Holy crap this is going to be so fun.

You MUST come to our final show on May 25th at c { } from 7-10. If you don’t know where that is: get on my email list and I’ll send you the address.